Texas Haibun
I dream of poetry in all its forms, rising and flowing and subsiding without end, much like ice shrugging within itself. Last winter a hard freeze split a valve on the downstream side of the cistern. Had it cracked even a few inches up-line there would have been no need to replace the valve.
captive rain recalls
its journey towards the ground
the garden returns
The well terminates at 280 feet. The water is hard, but cool, and tastes of dark limestone and ancient rains.
Even the gnarled live oaks have dropped their leaves. Grass crunches underfoot and smells like dead insects and dried herbs. Mosquitoes have vanished. Only the prickly pears thrive. Their flowers are bright yellow and bloom a few days each year.
sauteed with garlic
nopalitos on my plate
their thorns, forgiven
I wipe sweat from my forehead with the back of the glove, and wonder how many ounces of fluid have passed through my body this year, how the rain navigates from clouds through layers of soil and stone, only to return, how a cold beer might feel sliding down my throat.
stoking the fire
winter rain whispers to me
forget tomorrow
* * *
Originally posted in February, 2014, this was my first attempt at a haibun.
O at the Edges 
Wow. Bravo, Robert! But ofc, by the time you had written this, you already had vast experience with poetry. Thus the mastery that this piece shows.
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Thanks, Bob. I’ve still never been able to pull off a villanelle. Maybe one of these days.
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Love this piece!!!
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It’s all in the distant past, now. I spoke yesterday with the property’s new owner. He seems to be enjoying it as much as I did.
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This is brilliant! I love the ebb and flow of the quotidian and the ineffable. Your poetry is like the water.
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Thanks, Nadia! Like an incessant drip from a faucet in need of washers. Ha!
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Which then makes you wonder why we replace washers that just need to be replaced again because the water will always win.
Yes, just like that.
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Annoying and persistent. What better way to be? 🙂
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Good advice to listen to advice from the elements … will take your lead today and turn my ear toward the Texas heat almost sure to dominate thoughts with projected 99 degrees & 20% chance of rain (ie, likely zero rain but intense humidity … one big sauna) Maybe wisdom flows from such conditions? Maybe just “seek shade and turn on fan”?
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I vote for shade. Always!
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Reblogged this on Frank J. Tassone and commented:
#Haiku Happenings #9: Robert Okaji’s premier #haibun!
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